Top-secret X-37B space plane has been in orbit for more than 1 year” target=”_self” data-before-rewrite-localise=”/technology/engineering/space-forces-secretive-x-37b-space-plane-soars-past-1-year-in-orbit

Technology

That U.S. Space Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) has silently slipped past one-year of flight time.The craft is engaged in performing aerobrake maneuvers, a technique to alter its orbit around Earth, as well as safely dispose of its attached service module.Lofted in December of 2023, the military spaceplane was placed in an orbit higher than any of the earlier space plane missions – into a highly elliptical high Earth orbit.From that orbit, the United States Space Force, supported by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, conducted radiation effect experiments and tested Space Domain Awareness technologies.X-37B/OTV-7 is also referred to as United States Space Force-52 (USSF-52). This spaceplane was lofted on Dec. 28, 2023.The OTV-7 flight marks the first time the U.S. Space Force and the X-37B have attempted to carry out a dynamic aerobraking maneuver.Expending minimal fuelArtist rendering of the X-37B performing an aerobraking maneuver using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere. (Image credit: Boeing Space)In a statement released last year by Boeing, builder of the X37B “will perform ground-breaking aerobraking maneuvers to take the dynamic spaceplane from one Earth orbit to another while conserving fuel. Partnered with the United States Space Force, this novel demonstration is the first of its kind.”Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.The use of the aerobraking maneuver requires the heat-tiled spacecraft to conduct a series of passes using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere. That technique enables the spacecraft to change orbits while expending minimal fuel.There are no details as yet on whether the X-37B’s aerobrake maneuvering is complete.If so, the uncrewed vehicle was slated to resume its test and experimentation objectives until they are accomplished.At that point, the vehicle is to de-orbit and execute a safe return to Earth, likely at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Runway.Flight logOTV-1: launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on December 3, 2010, spending over 224 days on orbit.OTV-2: launched on March 5, 2011 and landed on June 16, 2012, spending over 468 days on orbit.OTV-3: launched on December 11, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014, spending over 674 days on-orbit.OTV-4: launched on May 20, 2015 and landed on May 7, 2015, spending nearly 718 days on-orbit.OTV-5: launched on September 7, 2017 and landed on October 27, 2019, spending nearly 780 days on-orbit.OTV-6: launched on May 17, 2020 and landed on November 12, 2022, spending 908 days on-orbit.OTV-7: launched on December 28, 2023 and remains in-flight.Originally posted on Space.com.

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President Biden’s Honours List: Tinubu congratulates Nigerian Scientists, Engineer

Science and Health

President Bola Tinubu has congratulated six distinguished Diaspora Nigerians named by President Joe Biden among the 400 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in the United States.

This prestigious recognition, established by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, is the highest honour bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers.

This year’s awardees, announced by President Joe Biden on January 14, 2025, are employed or funded by 14 participating United States government agencies.

The Nigerian honorees include Azeez Butali, Gilbert Lilly Endowed Professor of Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa; Ijeoma Opara, Associate Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences), Yale School of Public Health, Yale University; and Oluwatomi Akindele, Postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Others are Eno Ebong, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biology at Northeastern University; Oluwasanmi Koyejo, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University; and Abidemi Ajiboye, Executive Vice Chair of the Case School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University.

President Tinubu commends these trailblazing Nigerians for their remarkable achievements in science, technology and engineering.

The Nigerian leader notes that recognising these exceptional talents underscores Nigerians’ vast potential to excel both at home and on the global stage.

He looks forward to the honorees sharing their multidisciplinary expertise to benefit Nigeria’s development efforts under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

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Bottom-out stock: RateGain Travel Technologies share price zooms 6%. Do you own?

Travel

Bottom-out stock: RateGain Travel Technologies share price zooms 6%. Do you own? | Stock Market Newsvar _comscore = _comscore || [];_comscore.push({ c1:”2″, c2:”6035286″, options: {enableFirstPartyCookie: true, bypassUserConsentRequirementFor1PCookie:true }});( function() {var s = document.createElement(“script”), el = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.async = true; s.src = “https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/cs/6035286/beacon.js”; el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el);})();SubscribeSign in

“The long-term opportunities in AI are immense for health-tech companies”

Technology

“While AI has become integral to all tech companies, there is a growing understanding that the success of AI depends on data quality, uniqueness, and cleanliness,” explained Hila Karah, Managing Partner at Pitango HealthTech. “For health-tech, this presents a challenge and an opportunity: healthcare-focused organizations probably have the largest reservoirs of data; however, for the most part, it is scattered and messy. There’s a lot of work to be done before AI can effectively use the data in medical applications.”Karah joined CTech for its 2025 VC Survey, specifically highlighting health-tech and its potential in the months ahead. “So, while I do not expect AI to replace clinical activities in the health sector at scale in the near term, once the issue of properly organizing large, diverse datasets is fully worked out, the long-term opportunities are immense.”1 View gallery Hila Karah (Photo: Yoram Reshef)You can read the entire interview below.Fund ID
Name of fund/funds: Pitango HealthTech
Total sum of the fund: $150M
Partners: Ittai Harel, Hila Karah, Jonathan Glazer
Notable/select portfolio companies (active): Magenta Medical, Laguna Health, QuantHealth, Protai, Variantyx, Connie Health
Notable exits: Vertos Medical, Ventor Medical, AeroScout, dbMotion2024 is over. How can you summarize it in terms of the Israeli high-tech industry?Although 2024 was a very challenging year, we also saw surprisingly strong results and resiliency in Israeli health-tech. There were many notable exits and significant investments in med-tech, indicating that the year will end with very strong numbers – approximately $1.5 billion in overall healthcare sector investments.Looking ahead to 2025 – What challenges and opportunities await the Israeli high-tech sector in the coming year, and how are you, as investors, preparing for them?I see clear indicators on the international stage, and particularly in the IPO market, of recovery after the stagnation of recent years. I am also happy to see that the Israeli market is showing early signs of improvement with the end of the war in sight.A challenge we are seeing in the health-tech space is a decline in focused investors both in Israel and globally. However, this is simultaneously an opportunity for Pitango – we are fully financed and committed to continuing our activities and accelerating health-tech investments.I am excited to see the pendulum swinging back to med-tech, as well as the continued integration and expected impact of AI on data science and healthcare. We are seeing the promise of AI acceleration in various areas, from medical services all the way to drug development. To bring this promise to fruition, we have at Pitango partners who bring to the table varied and complementary skills in computational AI and data science, as well as a deep understanding of medical go-to-market processes and clinical knowledge.How will new American leadership affect the global high-tech industry or economy? And where does this place Israel and its entrepreneurs?There is no doubt that the new American leadership is set to introduce various changes that will affect global markets. And I believe that, as dedicated investors in the health-tech space, we need to monitor these changes and be ready to adapt quickly and efficiently.What are the three most important things the Israeli government should do today to accelerate the high-tech engine in the coming year?Allocate larger budgets for deeptech, healthcare and biological science companies in the ecosystem. These are generally companies with a J curve; they require a longer investment period before they can go to market. Larger government allocations, with an understanding of their long-term impact, will serve the country immensely.Attract Israeli talent that is currently working in Europe and the United States. There are fantastic scientific and managerial leaders out there, from digital health to med-tech to biopharma. Finding, attracting and supporting them so they continue their crucial work in Israel should be a key undertaking.Prioritize support for national organizations that are focused on promoting the health-tech ecosystem.Are there new sectors you see as relevant? Are there any fields you anticipate will weaken significantly in the coming year?The convergence of AI and biological sciences, medical devices, and healthcare services is a huge opportunity in Israel. In light of this, the medical service infrastructure here – and abroad, as well – needs to be reassessed to allow a holistic, ground-up AI-driven transformation.At the same time, we expect AI to potentially force many enterprise software companies to rethink their strategies and offerings. Specifically for biotech, Israel produces outstanding scientific discoveries that can create groundbreaking impact, but unless the government supports biotech and allocates funds for at least a decade, it will be very difficult to propel such innovations forward.Is Israel missing out on the AI revolution in the global arms race? If not, what should the local industry focus on to join the global race?While AI has become integral to all tech companies, there is a growing understanding that the success of AI depends on data quality, uniqueness, and cleanliness. For health-tech, this presents a challenge and an opportunity: healthcare-focused organizations probably have the largest reservoirs of data; however, for the most part, it is scattered and messy. There’s a lot of work to be done before AI can effectively use the data in medical applicationsSo, while I do not expect AI to replace clinical activities in the health sector at scale in the near term, once the issue of properly organizing large, diverse datasets is fully worked out, the long-term opportunities are immense.Could the global IPO drought end in the coming year?While there were fewer IPOs among medical and digital health companies recently, we did see important IPOs in biotech and powerful consolidations. We expect to see more of these in the coming year. I am quite optimistic.From an investor’s perspective: will the coming year be better for early-stage startups or more mature companies?We saw that 2024 was better for more mature companies, those in their commercial and later stages. But I already see indicators of a shift to early-stage startups. Whether it will peak in 2025 or 2026 is hard to say, but the shift has started. Did you raise fund money in 2024 for an existing fund or a new one? What are your expectations regarding this matter for 2025?Yes, we did raise a Pitango HealthTech fund and we are actively investing in exceptional companies at the moment.How many investments did you make in 2024, and how does it compare to previous years?We made three new investments in Guardoc, Nevia, and one in stealth mode. We also made several follow-on investments in Homethrive, Laguna Health, Variantyx, QuantHealth, Connie Health, CLEW Medical, Magenta Medical, Medisafe, and more.Provide an example of an intriguing investment you made in 2024. What sets this company apart, or what is distinctive about its sector?Pitango led the seed round for Guardoc, a savvy clinical compliance company in the health-tech sector. They are bringing the advantages of advanced digital health, data science, analytics, and reporting into the world of documentation, compliance, and administration for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), elder care facilities, and rehabilitation centers.What makes the company stand out to us is its leadership and market potential. Guardoc founder and CEO Hadassah Backman is an accomplished nurse with years of experience in managing and consulting for such organizations. This gives the company a ⁠deep understanding of what is needed, a connection with the customer base, and an unparalleled network. And, of course, we got results. With a ⁠rapid go-live and go-to-market, Guardoc saw numerous customer installations and adoption of their high-value offering in the US in 2024.Two notable companies that you think will thrive in 2025. Company Name: Laguna Health
Sector + description of the product/service: HealthTech/Digital Health – GenAI co-pilot for healthcare patient-focused call centers
Total investment: Approximately $25M
Founding Year: 2020
Reasoning why this is their year: Laguna Health provides a product that has hit the bullseye in the healthcare contact center market. We know this because no less than eight major US customers have signed deals with Laguna Health in H2 2024 alone. The company’s customers have expressed great satisfaction and are enthusiastic about the solution’s utility and its proven ROI. From our perspective, this is clearly building momentum for a massive scale-up in 2025.Company Name: QuantHealth
Sector + description of the product/service: HealthTech / Convergence of AI and Drug Development Clinical Trial Management
Total investment: $20M
Founding Year: 2020
Reasoning why this is their year: QuantHealth is one of the most robust and promising companies in its space: they are addressing the issue of an almost 90% failure rate in clinical trials that currently cost the pharma industry $100 billion. Their technology leverages AI and data science to greatly enhance and optimize these trials, saving the industry billions of dollars and, most importantly, helping to bring effective drugs to market faster, with wider reach, and a lower cost.After investing in building out its unique data sources and modeling approaches over several years, the company has proven its value to the pharma and biopharma industries in all stages of drug development and clinical trials. We are seeing great commercial traction, with the adoption and expansion of the QuantHealth platform by numerous big pharma and biotech customers in 2024.

Egypt restructures Consultative Council of Egyptian Scientists and Experts, adds Dr. Magdi Yacoub and Engineer Hany Azar

Science and Health

Egypt restructured its Consultative Council of Egyptian Scientists and Experts on Tuesday, adding in prominent new members such as Dr. Magdi Yacoub in the health committee and Engineer Hany Azar in the projects committee.This comes in order to enhance the advisory role of the council and expanding the scope of scientific and technical participation in making major national decisions.The role of the Consultative CouncilThe Consultative Council of Egyptian Scientists and Experts is an advisory body composed of leading scientists and experts in various fields, and it reports directly to the President.It aims to provide scientific and technical advice to the President on various matters.The council has several key responsibilities including providing scientific and technical advice to the President of the Republic. It also plays a crucial role in evaluating new proposals and ideas, assessing their feasibility and alignment with scientific principles.Furthermore, the council is responsible for formulating plans for national projects and future policies based on sound scientific foundations. To ensure effective project implementation, the council prepares and submits periodic reports on the progress of major national projects.Finally, it actively monitors advancements in global scientific research and explores ways for the Egyptian state to leverage these developments for national benefit.Working method of the Consultative Council of Egyptian Scientists and Experts:The council’s general coordinator is elected during its first meeting, and the council meets every two months, with the possibility of emergency meetings. Specialized committees are formed to study specific topics.Committees Including Magdi Yacoub and Hany Azar: Projects Committee: Headed by Engineer Hany Azar, this committee includes a group of experts in engineering and construction. Health Committee: Headed by Sir Magdi Yacoub, this committee includes a group of specialized physicians.Composition of the Consultative Council of Egyptian Scientists and Experts: Projects Committee: Engineer Hany Azar, Dr. Mohamed Saad Kamel, and Dr. Hassan Shafiq. Health Committee: Sir Magdi Yacoub, Dr. Karim Mohamed, and Dr. Bassem Salah. Other Committees: Includes education, economy, energy, and artificial intelligence.Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Technology, meaningful performance metrics to shape tourism future

Travel

Noor Ahmad Hamid, CEO of PATA (second from left) spoke about travellers’ evolving preferences, with AI helping tourists plan their travels
The rise of sustainable tourism, the growing influence of technology, and the need to shift focus from simply attracting tourist numbers to fostering longer stays and deeper cultural immersion were key themes that emerged during the panel discussion, Charting Tourism for ASEAN: Trends Defining the Next Decade, at the ASEAN Tourism Conference on January 15.
Speaker Noor Ahmad Hamid, CEO of PATA, believes there will be “phenomenal change”, especially in the way tourists travel.
He said: “Consumer behaviour is changing, and AI is helping tourists to plan and travel (through) user-generated content.”
From left: MATTA’S Nigel Wong, PATA’s Noor Ahmad Hamid, Agoda’s Giuliana Riitano, and GSTC’s Randy Durban discuss defining trends in travel and tourism
Fellow session speaker, Giuliana Riitano, vice president for Asia-Pacific, Agoda, agreed.
“There is a shift in consumer behaviour, where 75 per cent of travellers (according to a Statista study in 2023) rely on social media to discover new destinations and unique experiences. This is going to continue to grow,” she said.
Riitano also touched on the significant impact major events have on tourism, citing the surge in Agoda searches and sustained bookings following events like the week-long Taylor Swift concerts in Singapore and the MotoGP races in Thailand. She said such events not only generate immediate demand but also leave a lasting impact on tourism.
Randy Durban, CEO, Global Sustainable Tourism Council, further advocated the dispersal of tourists to reduce pressure on popular spots. He referenced LCCs’ role in this effort while making travel in the South-east Asian region more affordable.
When Nigel Wong, president, Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents and session moderator, posed a question on whether NTOs would cease having high arrival numbers as targets shift to focus on quality tourists, Noor opined that it was “up to us” to change how the industry measures tourism performance.
“There should not be just one parameter. We need to be mindful of the type of (meaningful tourism metric) we want to put in place,” he said.
Durban opined that “numbers will not go away”, and that it cannot be the beginning and the end of how to meaningfully measure tourism metrics.
He elaborated: “If I were a DMO, I would measure length of stay as a key indicator of quality tourism. Whether it’s a budget traveller or luxury traveller, if all of them were spending more time, they were going to have a longer list of things to do in the destination, and would therefore spend more time connecting with the (local) community.”

Africa has no shortage of celebrated writers – so why is it so hard for African readers to get hold of their books?

Arts & Culture, Books

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, a novel about growing up in colonial Zimbabwe, is one of the most important works of 20th-century African literature and features on university curricula across the UK. British students can order a used copy for less than £3.But there is one place readers struggle to find it: Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe and Dangeremba’s home town, even though it is published in paperback across the border in South Africa. “It’s very, very difficult to find my books anywhere in Zimbabwe,” says Dangarembga.African literature is thriving, and its impact on the global literature scene continues to grow. In 2021, African authors scooped the Nobel prize for literature, the Booker prize and the Camões prize for literature, the Portuguese-speaking world’s highest literary award. The New York Times hailed it as “the year for African literature”.This year the release of Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche’s first novel in 10 years is a hotly anticipated publishing event; many more authors from the continent continue to win recognition in Europe and America, from Zambian writer Mubanga Kalimamukwento to Nigerian Damilare Kuku.View image in fullscreenYet most Africans struggle to find either new works or classics by authors like Dangarembga. Few countries have publishing industries producing books locally. Many also lack public library systems that not only lend books to readers but nurture the growth of independent publishers by buying up copies of new works, says Ainehi Edoro, founder of Brittle Paper, an online platform about African literature.In South Africa, 43% of homes have no books and just 16% have more than five, while in Cameroon a textbook is shared by as many as 12 students. In Ethiopia, finding something good to read is a constant struggle for Dawit Berhanu, who runs an online book club called Ethiopia Book Forum. Each week, most of the 60 member in attendance have not managed to get hold of a copy of the book under discussion but tune in anyway to enjoy the exchange of ideas.View image in fullscreen“There’s no shortage of literary talent on the African continent, it’s swarming with writers and people who want to tell stories,” says Edoro. “But the back end of the literary market still needs to be developed. They don’t have access to editors, agents and publicists who can address local contexts.”In most African countries, booksellers import stock. Weak currencies make this process expensive. Some nations, such as Kenya, tax books, pushing prices up further.View image in fullscreenThe Shadow King, about the women who resisted fascist Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930s, by Maaza Mengiste, was short-listed for the Booker prize in 2020. It costs £9 in the UK. At one of Addis Ababa’s few bookshops, it fetches 3,000 Ethiopian birr (about £19). To put this in context, a university lecturer makes 11,500 birr (£72) a month.“Cost is the main barrier to access,” says Tinashe Mushakavanhu, a Zimbabwean academic at the University of Oxford. “People would rather buy bread than books, that’s the harsh reality.”The solution, says Edoro, is to develop “organic, homegrown publishing markets”. “Once you have that, books will move and flow in affordable ways,” she says.Edoro points to her home country of Nigeria as an example. In the past two decades, several new publishing houses have sprung up. These outfits not only take on emerging Nigerian writers, they also buy rights to international bestsellers and print Nigerian editions, which means they are available and affordable.“For a long time, Nigerians didn’t get a lot of the books they wanted to read. Now people can access most African titles,” says Othuke Ominiabohs, founder of Masobe Books, an independent Nigerian publisher.Since it began in 2020, Masobe Books has signed more than 100 authors and sold more than 100,000 books. Its success lies in forming relationships with brick-and-mortar stores, creating a buzz around books on social media, and fresh cover designs, as well as great writing at realistic prices.“When we started, everyone was buzzing about the covers,” says Ominiabohs. “They were new, refreshing, bold. And then the stories within those covers were very exciting, very Nigerian. They were not about people in the US or the UK. They were stories about people who lived in Nigeria, who worked in Nigeria, who ate Nigerian food. They were relatable.”Elsewhere, writers are finding ways to innovate. Crowdfunding is useful to self-publish. In Zimbabwe, several authors use WhatsApp groups to write and distribute their books, releasing chapters for free and charging a small fee to continue reading. In Ethiopia, two tech developers have launched an ebook and audiobook platform, Tuba, where books can be downloaded to an app, at a fraction of the cost of a physical copy.“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” says Dagnachew Tesfaye, one of Tuba’s founders. “It’s early days, but we hope to sell hundreds of thousands of books.”View image in fullscreenA Kenyan digital education platform, eKitabu, launched a publishing arm, Mvua Press in 2024. So far it has published 10 books, partnering with street sellers to distribute them and keeping costs down by printing its books. It also runs a “writer’s cafe” in Nairobi to help new authors turn nascent ideas into submittable manuscripts.“We believe there is a market for books in Africa if they can be more accessible and cheaper for readers,” says Mercy Kirui, the publishing manager of Mvua Press. “We want to see a book written by an African author becoming a hit in Africa before it becomes a global bestseller.”

Africa has no shortage of celebrated writers – so why is it so hard for African readers to get hold of their books?

Arts & Culture, Books

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, a novel about growing up in colonial Zimbabwe, is one of the most important works of 20th-century African literature and features on university curricula across the UK. British students can order a used copy for less than £3.But there is one place readers struggle to find it: Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe and Dangeremba’s home town, even though it is published in paperback across the border in South Africa. “It’s very, very difficult to find my books anywhere in Zimbabwe,” says Dangarembga.African literature is thriving, and its impact on the global literature scene continues to grow. In 2021, African authors scooped the Nobel prize for literature, the Booker prize and the Camões prize for literature, the Portuguese-speaking world’s highest literary award. The New York Times hailed it as “the year for African literature”.This year the release of Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche’s first novel in 10 years is a hotly anticipated publishing event; many more authors from the continent continue to win recognition in Europe and America, from Zambian writer Mubanga Kalimamukwento to Nigerian Damilare Kuku.View image in fullscreenYet most Africans struggle to find either new works or classics by authors like Dangarembga. Few countries have publishing industries producing books locally. Many also lack public library systems that not only lend books to readers but nurture the growth of independent publishers by buying up copies of new works, says Ainehi Edoro, founder of Brittle Paper, an online platform about African literature.In South Africa, 43% of homes have no books and just 16% have more than five, while in Cameroon a textbook is shared by as many as 12 students. In Ethiopia, finding something good to read is a constant struggle for Dawit Berhanu, who runs an online book club called Ethiopia Book Forum. Each week, most of the 60 member in attendance have not managed to get hold of a copy of the book under discussion but tune in anyway to enjoy the exchange of ideas.View image in fullscreen“There’s no shortage of literary talent on the African continent, it’s swarming with writers and people who want to tell stories,” says Edoro. “But the back end of the literary market still needs to be developed. They don’t have access to editors, agents and publicists who can address local contexts.”In most African countries, booksellers import stock. Weak currencies make this process expensive. Some nations, such as Kenya, tax books, pushing prices up further.View image in fullscreenThe Shadow King, about the women who resisted fascist Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930s, by Maaza Mengiste, was short-listed for the Booker prize in 2020. It costs £9 in the UK. At one of Addis Ababa’s few bookshops, it fetches 3,000 Ethiopian birr (about £19). To put this in context, a university lecturer makes 11,500 birr (£72) a month.“Cost is the main barrier to access,” says Tinashe Mushakavanhu, a Zimbabwean academic at the University of Oxford. “People would rather buy bread than books, that’s the harsh reality.”The solution, says Edoro, is to develop “organic, homegrown publishing markets”. “Once you have that, books will move and flow in affordable ways,” she says.Edoro points to her home country of Nigeria as an example. In the past two decades, several new publishing houses have sprung up. These outfits not only take on emerging Nigerian writers, they also buy rights to international bestsellers and print Nigerian editions, which means they are available and affordable.“For a long time, Nigerians didn’t get a lot of the books they wanted to read. Now people can access most African titles,” says Othuke Ominiabohs, founder of Masobe Books, an independent Nigerian publisher.Since it began in 2020, Masobe Books has signed more than 100 authors and sold more than 100,000 books. Its success lies in forming relationships with brick-and-mortar stores, creating a buzz around books on social media, and fresh cover designs, as well as great writing at realistic prices.“When we started, everyone was buzzing about the covers,” says Ominiabohs. “They were new, refreshing, bold. And then the stories within those covers were very exciting, very Nigerian. They were not about people in the US or the UK. They were stories about people who lived in Nigeria, who worked in Nigeria, who ate Nigerian food. They were relatable.”Elsewhere, writers are finding ways to innovate. Crowdfunding is useful to self-publish. In Zimbabwe, several authors use WhatsApp groups to write and distribute their books, releasing chapters for free and charging a small fee to continue reading. In Ethiopia, two tech developers have launched an ebook and audiobook platform, Tuba, where books can be downloaded to an app, at a fraction of the cost of a physical copy.“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” says Dagnachew Tesfaye, one of Tuba’s founders. “It’s early days, but we hope to sell hundreds of thousands of books.”View image in fullscreenA Kenyan digital education platform, eKitabu, launched a publishing arm, Mvua Press in 2024. So far it has published 10 books, partnering with street sellers to distribute them and keeping costs down by printing its books. It also runs a “writer’s cafe” in Nairobi to help new authors turn nascent ideas into submittable manuscripts.“We believe there is a market for books in Africa if they can be more accessible and cheaper for readers,” says Mercy Kirui, the publishing manager of Mvua Press. “We want to see a book written by an African author becoming a hit in Africa before it becomes a global bestseller.”